


Emotional Decisions

by orphan_account



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Angst, F/M, yep angst is all i've got lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 05:11:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11479320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: After Lon'qu dies, Robin is distraught and doesn't know what to do. Her comfort comes from the least likely person. But something inside her overlooks all of the flaws with who she's chosen. Robin's devotion to this person grows out of hand, and everyone can see it but her. Wait, what did she just say?!





	1. Chrom

**Author's Note:**

> Whew lads, I spent a week on this. Hope it turns out slightly okay!!
> 
> Some notes that you might want to keep in mind (they are important you should want to keep them in mind):
> 
> -Chrom doesn't have romantic feelings for Robin in this. He sees her like a little sister
> 
> -Everyone here is pretty much A-support BFFs with whoever they can support with. (Big Hint: Gangrel can only support with Robin, while other units like Chrom and Gaius can support with a lot more people including Robin and each other)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chrom watches as Robin falls madly in love and goes mad about who she loves.

It should’ve been another ordinary day, fighting off a pack of Risen for some distressed villagers in Ylisse. The enemies were so weak that Robin had insisted to Chrom that her and Lon’qu go on their own. Nothing bad would happen in such an easy battle, right? So Chrom decided that the rest of the army would march to a nearby castle to fend off some scoundrels.

When they returned to their campground, though, something wasn’t right with the entire army. Unsettlement settled in the air.

“Chrom,” Lissa asked, looking up at Chrom with furrowed eyebrows, “where’s Robin?”

“I am unsure. Maybe Frederi-”

“No, milord.” Somehow, Frederick was at Chrom’s side immediately. “I’ve asked everyone here, and nobody knows where she is.”

“That’s odd.” He chewed on his lip. “Neither of them have been late since I’ve met them. Something must have gone wrong.” At Chrom’s nervous remark, Lissa’s eyes went as wide as bottlecaps.

“We have to go find her. I don’t know what I’ll do with myself if Robin is gone,” she said, sniffling.

Chrom nodded. “Alright. Frederick, please round up Gaius, Sully, Tiki, Tharja, Olivia, and Gregor. I’ll go with you all to find her.”

“Of course.” As Frederick rushed away to find them, Chrom looked to his right to see Gangrel, causing him to jump. He cleared his throat. “I didn’t see you there, Gangrel. Do you have any business?”

“No, but I’d like to know if I can go with you.” Despite his friendly words, Chrom could hardly see past the shit-eating grin that rested on Gangrel’s face. “I would very much like to prove to you that I can be trusted.”

Hesitant, Chrom nodded. “Yes, but Gangrel… if you step out of line even once, then you’ll be out of this army. Understood?”

“Yes, milord,” Gangrel replied, chuckling at his poor imitation of Frederick.

Chrom frowned. How was he supposed to put Robin’s life into the hands of someone with such a demeanor as Gangrel?

“Milord,” Frederick said, snapping Chrom out of his thoughts. “I have summoned our soldiers. We’re ready to march whenever you are.”

Nodding, Chrom flicked his eyes to Gangrel. “By the way, Gangrel is coming with us.” Chrom leaned in to warn Frederick, but judging by the mortified look in the latter’s eyes, he needed no warning. “Alright, everyone, let’s go save Robin!”

The team punched the air and shouted “yeah!”

***

Once they were nearly within sight of the village, Chrom stopped, everyone following suit and ready to listen to his instruction. With the sun setting, they could hardly see each other.

“Alright everyone, we’ll be splitting up to search for Robin. Tharja, Olivia, and Frederick, you go northeast. Sully, Tiki, and Gregor, you head west. Gaius and Gangrel, you two stay with me, we’ll keep going straight ahead. We meet here at two hours until midnight.”

Everyone branched their separate ways.

The trio with Chrom walked through a breezy, moonlit meadow. It didn’t take long for Gaius to speak up. “Hey, Blue?”

Chrom sighed, flicking Gaius on the forehead affectionately. “My name isn’t Blue.”

“No, this is serious. To our right, I just heard something.” At that, Chrom’s head turned to the right, where there was a small hill. He could hear it too; on the other side of that hill, a girl’s voice was clearly audible. Though it was impossible to distinguish was she was saying.

The three rushed around the hill. Gaius was the first to see it, and when Chrom and Gangrel got there, they saw.

They had found Robin. On her knees. Bawling her eyes out. Holding burnt pieces of fabric over a pile of ashes. All three of them remained frozen, but Gaius was the first to speak up. “Bubbles,” he started softly, causing her head to snap upwards, “are you okay?”

As they looked, the realization hit Chrom and Gaius at the same time. She held the burnt fabric of the end of a furry sleeve. More specifically, the one that Lon’qu wore normally.

Robin didn’t answer him. She could do nothing but look at the ground and sob, tears rushing down her face. Silent, Chrom and Gaius watched her, grieving at the same time.

One of the three, of course, was entirely unaffected by the situation. Yet he was the one who walked towards her first. Gangrel kneeled down next to Robin and put his arms around her shoulders, pulling her in.

Both Chrom and Gaius showed their shock on their faces, but Gaius’ jaw hung especially open. All four were speechless- all for different reasons- as Gangrel stroked her hair and pulled her into his embrace.

Helpless, Robin hugged him back, burying her face in his chest, letting her sobs fill the quiet atmosphere.

Gaius looked up at the sky and blinked. “Guys, we have to head back.”

His remark seemed to fall on deaf ears at first, Robin not acknowledging him. But Gangrel put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back slightly. “Robin, dear, we have to leave now,” he cooed to her. She sniffled again, but nodded as he helped her back to her feet. “Let’s go,” Gangrel said, leading them back.

On their way back, Gaius and Chrom stared at the back of Gangrel’s head, exchanging glances of suspicion.

***

The next morning, Chrom arrived at breakfast at the same time he thought Robin would. However, he was hardly surprised to find her gone. Gangrel hadn’t shown up, either, which would have aroused his suspicions if Gangrel usually took part in anything involving the rest of the army. Frowning, he took his share and brought it to the table.

Before Chrom saw an opportunity to tell everyone of the news, Basilio turned to him. “Chrom, where are Lon’qu and Robin? Did you find them last night?”

His stomach dropped. “Well, yes. About that.” Everyone at the table turned silent and looked at him. Taking a deep breath, he stood, hands shaking slightly. He cleared his throat. “Robin is fine. I believe she’s in her room. But soldiers, I regret to inform you all that Lon’qu has died in combat.”

Chrom glanced over at Morgan, who had covered his mouth, eyes already tearful. Of course, everyone else was sad, but for Morgan to have lost his own father… 

A realization slapped Chrom in the face just as Tharja voiced the same concern. “So what you’re saying, Chrom, is that Robin is hiding by herself while Morgan is out here. Not comforting him at all?” 

He chewed his lip, unable to answer. She went on.

“That just doesn’t seem like the Robin we all know and love. Something has to be  _ very _ wrong with her.” Several nodded in agreement.

“Well, grief does do strange things to people, yet…” Chrom shook his head and turned to Morgan, who was still crying. “Morgan, let’s go find your mother. Everyone, please excuse me.” 

Chrom and Morgan went to where the rows of tents were, soon finding Robin’s with the curtains closed. “Robin, are you in there?” Chrom called. 

For a minute, he heard nothing but shuffling sounds from inside the tent. And perhaps whispering? Either way, his gut twisted with dread, and his mind instantly went to the former king of Plegia and the scene he had witnessed the night before.

Chrom felt sick when it was Gangrel, not Robin, who opened the curtain. “Yes?” He asked, blinking. “In case you can’t tell, we were a little busy.” Behind Gangrel, Robin was facing away from the entrance.

“I need to talk to Robin.” Chrom glanced down at Morgan, whose expression appeared more distressed by the second. “Robin, please come-”

“I said, Prince, that  _ we’re a little busy. _ You can come back later.” Before Gangrel could reach his hand to close the curtain again, Chrom saw a tear slip from Morgan’s eye. Something about it made Chrom snap, and he opened the curtain as wide as it went, slapping Gangrel’s hand away.

“No! Robin, come out at once. It’s not like you to make everyone so worried about you, and your child here is distressed. You can’t just sit here and pretend like we all don’t exist. That’s not  _ you. _ ” He gasped for breath slightly after his enraged tirade.

Finally, Robin turned around, her expression unreadable. “Fine. Morgan can come in with us if you leave, Chrom.”

But when Chrom looked down at Morgan, Morgan was staring at Gangrel, arms folded as he cowered behind Chrom. “I think you should spend some time with just you and Morgan,” he suggested in a softer tone.

Hesitant, Robin and Gangrel looked at each other, but Robin nodded. Chuckling, Gangrel left the tent, casting a glance to Chrom as he passed. Morgan ran to Robin, so Chrom saw no choice but to leave.

Later that day, Chrom and Frederick were organizing the convoy, making light conversation. “Milord, I don’t mean to be judgemental or overly critical… or, maybe I do. But I wouldn’t trust Gangrel, if I were you.”

“Well, obviously,” Chrom muttered back. “Did I tell you about what happened when I took Morgan to see Robin this morning? Gangrel was the one who opened the-”

Two loud knocks came from the door of the storage room. Chrom opened it to see none other than Gangrel himself, smirking. “What is it?” Chrom deadpanned, looking over at Frederick, who seemed ready to attack.

“I’m so hurt at your distrust, milord. But we can sweep that under the table, surely. I just came to get something from here.” 

“Like what?”

“Just a Seed of Trust.”

“Seed of  _ wha _ \- no, stay back!” Gangrel tried to walk forward into the storage room, but Chrom restrained him, Frederick following him immediately to take his place. Frederick held Gangrel’s hands behind his back as Chrom walked in front of him. 

Despite this, Gangrel cackled. “Chrom, why do you do this to me? I’m just another soldier in your army, aren’t I? I thought we decided to trust each other.”

Scoffing, Chrom put his hands on his hips. “You know as well as I do what the Seed of Trust does. You’re planning to make Robin fall for you. In fact,” Chrom continued, clenching his fist, eyes widening, “I’d be willing to bet that that’s how you’ve been seducing Robin this whole time. Frederick, how many seeds were in the convoy yesterday morning?”

“Five, milord.”

“And you will find five seeds there still,” Gangrel shot back. He winced as Frederick tightened his grip on his wrists.

Chrom opened the tall cupboard of miscellaneous items, and surely enough, there were five seeds of trust still there. He took one out and looked at it closely. Then he took out the rest, comparing them together. Gritting his teeth and tossing them back into the storage, Chrom whipped around to look at Gangrel. “You snake,” he spat. “Not just one, not two, but three of them are fake. Give me one good reason not to kick you out of the army right now.”

“It would trouble Robin deeply for me to be gone.” As Chrom’s expression stayed unchanged, Gangrel went on. “It’s too late now, milord. If she’s even the slightest bit more in love with me, she might as well be the one proposing.” 

Chrom groaned, and the three stood in silence for a moment. “Milord,” Frederick asked, “what should I do with him?”

Briefly pondering, Chrom reached for the real seeds in the convoy and sighed. “I’ll be holding onto these. Gangrel has a point, though. For now, he can do as he pleases.” Turning to Gangrel, Chrom stared, his eyes full of unusual venom and hatred. “Don’t take advantage of her trust in you. If you do, I swear to the gods,  _ I will hurt you. _ ” 

Looking at Chrom in awe, Frederick released his grip, after which Gangrel ran out. Chrom took a deep breath. “Milord,” Frederick stuttered out. But when Chrom turned to him, Frederick’s mouth just hung open. 

“I apologize, Frederick.” Chrom cleared his throat, a brief smile appearing on his face. “Now, let’s continue.” Speechless, Frederick nodded, but didn’t move. “Did I go a bit overboard?”

For a few minutes, Frederick didn’t answer. They just got to work in silence. However, he eventually replied. “Milord, your reaction was a bit- uh, dramatic- but if it was I in your position and someone I cared so deeply for, then I think I would have done the same.”

Nodding, Chrom grinned at Frederick. “Thank you.”

***

Morning came once again, and as usual, everyone was there. Fortunately, Robin had shown up as well, sitting next to Lon’qu’s empty seat. No one in the army sat in a seat where a dead member used to. It was a formality, a show of respect and sensitivity.

No one in the army expected respect or sensitivity from Gangrel.

But no one expected blatant ignorance from him, either.

For the first time since joining, Gangrel attended breakfast. Robin smiled and greeted him with a peck on the cheek. Only Chrom had seen it, but everything about the simple gesture irritated him.

Gangrel plopped down into Lon’qu’s old seat. Vaike, whose seat was next to Lon’qu’s, frowned at Gangrel. “Hey, you’re not supposed to sit there, you know?”

Gangrel ignored him. This caused Vaike to glare and stand up, forcing the chair to face him. Vaike glared down at Gangrel, who only looked bothered. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I was talking to Robin.”

“You’re also sitting at Lon’qu’s old seat!” The buzz of the table slowly died down, more people looking at the scene. “Did no one fill you in on that? There are empty seats at the end of the table for you and Robin if you want them, but you should have some respect for the dead, man.”

With a look of mild annoyance, Robin stood up, taking Gangrel’s wrist and looking at Vaike. “The man is dead, he wouldn’t care,” she grumbled. “Grely, let’s go over there,” she told Gangrel in a much sweeter voice.

Chrom observed the reactions of everyone at the table. Vaike, surprisingly, acted nonchalant after it all went down. Gaius looked to the other end of the table with a blank expression, but Chrom knew what he was thinking and felt pity for him.

No one at the table except for Robin and Gangrel spoke another word that morning.

***

Later that evening, several members, including Chrom, excluding Robin, were playing Truth or Dare after losing a bet to Lissa, the only person who’d had faith that morning that Robin would show up for breakfast. 

Anna was in the middle of spelling out a dare for Chrom when Robin and Gangrel walked out next to their circle. They looked up with curious stares.

Glancing at Gangrel, Robin asked, “who should say it?”

“Gods, no,” Chrom mumbled under his breath, turning to Gaius, who mirrored his expression.

“I will, darling,” Gangrel replied, giving Robin’s hand a gentle squeeze. He looked Chrom directly in the eye with his ever present smile. “Everyone, we just wanted to announce that we’re getting married.”

Dead silence.

***

As Chrom was beginning to take off his clothes and go to bed, someone called for him from the entrance to his tent. He opened his curtain, seeing Gangrel’s face. Chrom said nothing, only gazing with a stony expression.

“Chrom, milord, will you be coming to the ceremony? We’re holding it in six days at noon.”

Behind Gangrel, Gaius passed by, hugging himself and shivering despite the warm weather. Looking back to Gangrel, Chrom took a few deep breaths.

Chrom trembled, rage, confusion, hatred, shock, and despair hitting him all at once like a tidal wave pulling him under the water.

Meanwhile, Gangrel awaited an answer.


	2. Gaius

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that we've seen how Chrom is reacting to the news, what about Gaius?

The stab of Gaius’ sword piercing the Risen made a fleshy sound before the blood spilled out of its body and it fell. A loud thumping noise followed soon after as its large body fell to the ground.

Less than a second later, a meaty hand tried to grab his neck. It took him only an instant to swing his body that way, slicing through the Risen’s body smoothly.

After that one came three more. They seemed to multiply the more he killed as if he was playing a losing game with his life at stake. However, they all went down with a flick of his wrist. 

That still didn’t stop the adrenaline rush of being in the middle of four Risen, all thirsty for his blood, all wishing to devour him. Taking risks was the only thing that made him feel alive. It had been that way since he started stealing things.

On his shoulder, he felt a sudden shock as one of the Risen clawed at him. A gash of blood appeared before he could stop it. He winced, turning to stab it. However, he was slowing down, and his sword was almost broken. At this point, he had to have killed dozens of them.

Another one clawed at his leg. It drew relatively little blood, but it was enough to make Gaius weaker for the rest of the battle.

Fortunately, that wasn’t long. When the last of them fell, Gaius collapsed onto his knees.

“That was awfully reckless.” The voice jolted him, but he knew who it was right away. Gaius smirked as he turned to the voice’s owner, who he could barely see as the sun had set hours ago.

“No need to flatter me so much.”

Chrom finally walked close enough for Gaius to see him. “Why did you come out here so late at night?”

Gaius shrugged. “Guess I just needed to let out some stuff that’s been on my mind.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, you went through three brave swords tonight alone. I wouldn’t have a problem if it were a silver sword, but brave swords don’t just grow on trees.”

Fidgeting, Gaius looked at his feet, sudden guilt overcoming him. “I’m sorry, I thought we had a lot more of those.”

“Only two left now.” Chrom sighed. “It’s okay, just don’t do it again. Let’s go home now, alright?”

“Whatever, Blue.”

“Stop calling me that name.”

***

As soon as Gaius arrived at their camp, he headed straight for the convoy to put away the nearly broken swords. But when he opened the door, the last person he expected to see rummaging through a chest on his knees was Gangrel.

“Away from your girlfriend for once?”

Gangrel seemed to ignore Gaius, taking out something small and inspecting it on his palm. Then putting it back. Afterward, Gangrel looked at Gaius with a dull expression. “Only for a good reason. You’ll know soon enough.” He chuckled, standing up to look at Gaius face to face. “And why are you here now? Looking after me, hm?”

Gaius raised an eyebrow. “No, there’s no reason I would be looking for you. Unless you can think of one?”

“You envy me.”

An extended, pregnant pause followed. Gaius willed himself to stay calm and for blood not to flow to his cheeks. “There’s really nothing about you to envy.”

“Oh, but there is for you.” Gangrel smiled, stepping forwards, causing Gaius to step back and bump into a shelf of vulneraries and concoctions. “You want her, but you can’t have her.”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about.” Gaius’ heart thumped in his chest.

“Robin. You love Robin. But not as much as I do.”

“That’s bull-” Before he could finish, Gangrel pressed a finger to Gaius’ mouth, taking a very solemn expression.

“You know as well as I do exactly how seductive she is, even if she doesn’t know it. She’s trusting, gentle, a pinch stubborn, and  _ so _ beautiful! Everything about her would make the perfect wife,” Gangrel swooned. Gaius could have sworn he saw genuine affection in his eyes but didn’t have long to look, as Gangrel fled from the storage room.

Eventually, Gaius got his things put away. As he was leaving, he was shocked to see Robin there, walking into the convoy, her facial features accented by the moonlight. “What are you doing up so late, Bubbles?” Gaius followed her back into the convoy.

“I just figured I should restock my tomes, they’re near broken,” she mused, walking over to a chest. She poured the tomes she had been holding into it and started going through the other ones. “What about you?”

“Just came back from fighting some Risen.” She simply hummed in response, not looking back at him. But his question for her was gnawing at the back of his mind. He had to get it off his chest, even if it didn’t seem perfectly appropriate at the time. “You know, Morgan really doesn’t like Gangrel.”

She froze where she was for just a moment. But then continued looking. At first, he thought she was ignoring him, until she asked, “how would you know?”

“It was pretty apparent when he was practically hiding behind me that one morning I came to tell you he was disappointed.” He pursed his lips. Part of him wanted so badly to continue and tell her exactly what was wrong with her recent behavior. Part of him wanted that one to be quiet. The first won. “In fact, everyone’s a little hurt that you’ve been spending your time with no one but Gangrel. You hide in your tent with him every hour of every day.”

“I don’t see a problem with it. I’m just doing what I want. I don’t owe you my presence.”

“No, but-” He couldn’t think of a proper response. Instead, he sighed. “Is it worth neglecting all your friends for one guy, let alone Gangrel?”

Apparently, Robin found what she was looking for, as she stood up and closed the chest. Then, she spun around, giving Gaius a harsh glare. “Don’t talk about Gangrel like he’s a villain.”

“He  _ literally _ was.”

“You don’t know him like I do. He doesn’t show you guys what he shows me about who he is as a person. It’s really disgusting that you would make assumptions about him based on his past, especially when he loves me now. Gangrel has changed, okay? And you’re not changing my mind about it.”

Gaius was left speechless as Robin stomped out and slammed the door.

He opted to stay awake for the rest of the night until morning came.

***

This resulted in a very sleepy and slightly grumpy Gaius in the morning. Everyone was a bit hesitant approaching him wearing his restless bitch face.

The only person to try it was Chrom, who sat next to Gaius as they ate. “You’ve been awfully crabby this morning,” he remarked.

“Yeah, I didn’t get any sleep. Mind too hazy.”

“Is it about her?”

“Yeah.” Gaius took a bite of his food. “Talked to her last night. She’s clearly not happy with our collective judgment of Gangrel. She doesn’t particularly care what we think of the situation, either. Honestly, no idea why she’s acting like this.”

There was a short pause in their conversation as both of them ate. “Grief does affect different people in different ways, you know.”

Gaius quirked an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I… don’t mean this in a disrespectful way, but I think she’s making a bad choice with Gangrel. For one, she’s completely rushing into marriage.”

Nodding, Gaius replied, “Morgan doesn’t like her soon-to-be-husband, and she knows that by now. But she hasn’t done anything.”

“I just hope we can resolve it somehow, you know? If she gets married, it’s in stone, and she’ll definitely regret it later.”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, by the way…” For some reason, the way Chrom said the words made Gaius’ heart rate quicken. “Do you have feelings for Robin? As in, romantic love?”

Gaius only blushed, but Chrom smiled fondly. “Blue, maybe we should change your name to ‘Mom’ soon,” Gaius noted.

It was Chrom’s turn to blush. “No way, I’d somehow hate that even more than your current nickname. Please don’t.”

“Alright, M- I mean Blue.”

***

Later that afternoon, the Shepherds were playing another game of Truth or Dare after losing a collective bet to Lissa. This time, she had been the only one to say that Tharja would be dropping curses on random people before breakfast ended due to her withdrawal from lack of Robin. 

“Chrom, truth or dare?” Nowi asked.

“I’ll take-” He cut himself off, and when Gaius looked at where Chrom was looking, surprise, surprise, Robin and Gangrel had walked out together. Gaius’ eyes flicked to Morgan, who was hugging himself and frowning.

“Hey guys,” Robin said, “mind if I join you?”

“Yes, please do,” Nowi cried, happy tears coming to her eyes as a smile brightened her face. No one else objected, so Robin and Gangrel sat next to each other on a log directly next to Gaius.

But more importantly, they were seated right across from Tharja, who gave them both an evil glare of death. Everyone remained silent, eyes suddenly turned to Robin and Tharja who sat looking at each other.

“What’s the matter?” Robin asked.

Tharja gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. Everyone braced, shoulders clearly tensing. “You know we’ve all missed you.”

“I still don’t understand why you’re glaring at me like that,” Robin replied, clearly becoming a little nervous. From where Gaius could see, Gangrel took hold of one of her hands and squeezed it.

“You want me to tell you?” Tharja stood up and sneered. “You’ve been ignoring us all for the past two days, staying inside your tent with your new boyfriend. Oh, and he’s going to be your husband soon, is that right? We all know here that before Lon’qu died, you and Gangrel hardly talked at all. But as soon as he confessed to you, it was like you had been together forever. You don’t want to see your friends. You act like you don’t want to see the people who got you where you are today.”

Robin tried to interject. “Tharja, this is a little-”

“I’m not done yet,” she spat. “Don’t think I don’t know everything. And in case anyone here doesn’t know why these two are in a relationship, I’ll say it loud and clear.”

“Tharja, please don’t!”

“Robin just wanted a good dad for her son, and here comes a guy who wants her body! Must be the perfect one to raise Morgan. Except Morgan hates Gangrel, and you don’t care at all. All you care about now is this former tyrant, not your own friends.” By the end of her rant, Tharja was pink and gasping lightly for breath.

Stunned silence followed. Tharja quietly muttered, “I’m sorry,” before rushing off to her tent.

No one dared to say a word. No one looked away from the ground. Finally, Nowi broke the silence. “Uh, where were we… Chrom, truth or dare?”

***

That night, Gaius went out for more training. Fortunately, he returned without any wounds and was able to retreat safely. He approached the camp on a dirt path that the other soldiers had made by walking there so often.

When Gaius rounded the last corner before arriving, the last person he expected to see sitting by a tree was Robin, curled in a ball, knees against her chest, head down. A sob escaped her mouth, and Gaius clenched his fist.  _ If this is Gangrel’s fault, _ he decided,  _ then I’ll take him out. _ “Hey, Bubbles,” he whispered as gently as possible, “are you okay?”

For the first time in a week (though it felt like a year), she looked at him in the eyes, hers full of tears.

The look was short-lived though, as she turned her head back to the ground. Careful to move slowly, Gaius sat down next to her. Briefly, he wondered if it would be wrong to put an arm around her and pull her closer, whispering comforts in her ear. He didn’t. “Do you wanna talk about it, or should I leave you alone for now?”

Robin exhaled a shaky breath, and Gaius realized he felt sick to his stomach. Someone as selfless and gentle as her didn’t deserve this pain. Didn’t deserve Gangrel, of all people.

Finally, when she spoke, he leaned forward, listening to every word like his life was dependant on it. “I don’t know what I’m doing anymore,” she muttered, drawing her legs closer to her chest. 

Gaius frowned. Nothing he could come up with seemed appropriate to say in this conversation, especially considering that Robin had chosen to be with Gangrel, despite the fact that the latter used to delight in the misery of others every day. “Robin, you can say whatever you want to me. I’ve got your back.”

At his words, she turned her gaze to him again. “You called me by my name just now,” she remarked, fidgeting where she sat. Fortunately, Gaius noticed, her voice was no longer wavering.

Her remark caught him off guard, to say the least. “I open my heart to you, try to be all serious for once, and that’s all you have to say?”

She chuckled, shoving his shoulder slightly. It was a small gesture, but it relieved him greatly. His heart also pounded in his chest, but he ignored the sensation. Resting her head on his shoulder, Robin took a few slow, deep breaths.

_ Am I sure this is okay? _ Gaius asked himself, eyes fixed on Robin’s head leaning on him.  _ I can’t be bothered to care much at the moment, _ he concluded, beginning to stroke her hair. Under his touch, she flinched but made no attempt to stop him. “Now,” he started again, “tell me what’s wrong.”

Her response took many seconds, the time in which Gaius spent praying to whatever god would hear him that he could make her see something in Gangrel that her attraction blinded her to.

“Like I said earlier, I don’t know what I’m doing with my life or why.” Her voice started quivering again. “Since Lon’qu died, I dunno, I just feel kind of lost.”

Gaius remained silent for a few moments, hoping she would go on. Somewhere, she had to know that Gangrel was the wrong choice and she was rushing into marriage. He had enough faith in her to know.

“To be honest with you, I didn’t even marry Gangrel for a good reason.”

Gaius’ eyes widened. He hadn’t expected her to be so open so soon, but this would speed things up… “Why are you with him then?”

She blinked, staring at the rising sun’s rays filtering through the trees around them. “I just, you know, didn’t want Morgan to be raised without a dad.” The sun illuminated her face and made her eyes sparkle. He tried not to stare. “And when Gangrel comforted me, I was so grateful, and I didn’t want to shut him out because he was so nice to me. One thing led to another, and he confessed his love to me.” A fond smile spread across her face. “Now we’re getting married. Morgan will have a father, and Gangrel is happy.”

“Are you still grieving Lon’qu’s death?” Gaius asked. Immediately, a part of him regretted the question, but he needed an answer. At most, Robin had known of Lon’qu’s death for a few hours, and he saw with his own eyes how quickly she rebounded. “Even a little bit?”

His question made her freeze. In the silence, he was acutely aware of a hitch in her breath and her swallowing. “I’d rather move on from the past,” she replied in a monotone voice. As though she had rehearsed the line.

It sounded…  _ very _ rehearsed.  _ Maybe I’m delusional, _ Gaius thought,  _ but maybe her voice sounds like that on purpose. _

Before he could gather evidence towards his suspicion, Robin turned stiff and scooted away from him. He didn’t even have time to ask her what was wrong before she stood up, muscles still tense. Robin looked back down at him with a nasty glare.

“Robin?” As he stood up, she took a few steps away from him.

“Don’t come close to me ever again. I’m going to be married in just a few days, you know.” She visibly trembled, eyes downcast. “And he loves me.” Robin bit her lip hard. “You and Chrom can’t stop me from doing this. This whole time, you’ve done nothing but criticize my decisions and treat me like a child.”

As she spoke, Gaius could do nothing but watch, his body feeling weaker by the second.  _ I only did this all because I love you, _ he wanted to say. Before now, everything about their conversation seemed perfect and untouchable. For a moment, though, he forgot how to breathe from this shock.

Then, shaking his head, he came back to reality. Gaius gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. “Whatever you say. I give up. You know, Blue and I were trying pretty hard to help you out. Wanted to give you support in your time of need. Prevent you from making bad decisions while your head was still fucked up over Lon’qu. Guess not.” 

Gaius spat on the ground, turned, and walked towards the forest. Not once did he look back at Robin, who had given him hope just to rip his heart out, who he made the mistake of falling in love with.

Well, it couldn’t hurt to look just once.

Gaius turned himself around, walking backward as he looked back to where Robin was.

She was facing- oh, who would’ve guessed- Gangrel, who appeared to be lecturing her about something. Every few seconds, she would nod and say the same thing.  _ I’m sorry. Yes. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. _

All light left Gaius’ eyes. He cracked his knuckles, gritting his teeth as he stared at Gangrel, who stood lecturing Robin like it was his job.

“ _ Gangrel _ ,” he grumbled, eyes fixed intently on Gangrel as a predator to its prey. 

***

That night- or, early morning, rather- Gaius had to put his weapons away. The night had been easy to stay awake through since he slept all evening.

Just like last time, he saw Gangrel, except coming out of the convoy holding something. Gaius couldn’t tell what it was.

As Gangrel got closer, he smirked, leaving Gaius rather confused. “Gaius.”

“Yes?” Suddenly, Gangrel pulled Gaius into a tight embrace. 

Before Gaius could react and push away, he felt his body go limp and Gangrel dropped him. 

From there, everything went by quickly. He clutched his pounding head. His stomach twisted with nausea. Everything was spinning. In the corner of his eye, Gaius saw a syringe in Gangrel’s hand which was half full of a clear liquid.

“Who knew ketamine worked so quickly?” Gangrel’s voice was the last thing Gaius knew before blacking out.

***

When he woke up, Gaius found himself face down in the dirt. He tried to look up or stand, but many hands were holding him down. No matter how he tried to scream, nothing came out.

He soon felt rope tied around his wrists. It was a familiar feeling. Due to his criminal past, he should know how to untie it. However, he found that his fingers were bound together as well, making it much more difficult.

It took very little time before nearly every part of Gaius’ body was tied by ropes. Though he turned his head, he never saw any of the people who were tying him up. All he saw was that he was inches away from a large cliff.

And far down below was an ocean.

Behind him, he heard chuckling. It wasn’t distinctly male or female. There were many voices. He felt his body turned parallel to the cliff until his right side was practically off the edge. Hands grabbed him and rolled his bound body off the edge.

Gaius’ body plopped into the ocean with a loud splash. He felt himself go deeper and deeper. He struggled and cried, only feeling water fill his lungs, suffocating him. The surface grew more and more distant until he closed his eyes.

***

His brain was hardly functioning enough to process that he was sitting. He was blindfolded, but this time around, only his wrists and ankles were tied. When he tried to stand, though, he hit his head against something metal. All around him, people laughed out loud.

He let himself go limp, falling forwards into bars. The uproar only continued.

At one point, he heard footsteps from each side approach whatever cage he was confined in.

From his left, a sword stabbed him, piercing his side and making a fleshy noise. The same happened on his right. Every nerve in his body was active and in pain. His head ached from the screaming and cheering coming from the crowd.

Another sword came in to stab his neck. Another for his legs, and more for his arms. 

Finally, one came from the front and went directly through his head. His blindfold stained red before he passed out again.

***

Next time, Gaius didn’t end up in any torture device. This time, he was directly in front of someone who was clearly beaming at him, but he couldn’t see their face. For some reason, his heart fluttered, his brain still dazed.

The person held their hand out to him, and when he looked, they were giving him a piece of chocolate. He hurriedly took it and raised it to his mouth.

But it instantly melted in his hand, getting it all sticky. The person giggled jovially, handing him another one. The same result came. Gaius shook his head and grunted. He then made the mistake of grabbing his wrist with the same hand he had used to grab the chocolate.

All at once, one of his hands melted away. The person stepped back, visibly disturbed. Gaius’ entire body started to melt, beginning with his forearm, then moving to his shoulder, his sides, his legs, his other arm, and finally, his head, until he melted away into a puddle of chocolate on the floor.

Meanwhile, the person looked on in horror, running off to find help.

But Gaius, now slightly more awake, knew himself to be more disturbed than the imaginary person who was watching his physical form crumble.

Why was he having consecutive nightmares?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave a comment down below. Even if it's three decades after I've actually written this fic, I don't mind it I promise ;P
> 
> Also, feel free to tell me if there were any mistakes in there, I only skimmed over this one after writing it so I probably missed a few things...


	3. Robin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So far, the situation with Robin's sudden marriage to Gangrel seems to be intensifying. But is there any way Robin can be convinced to leave Gangrel, or does she stay under her infatuated spell?

Snapping at Gaius so coldly had ruined Robin’s mood for the rest of the night. Of course she knew her anguish likely wasn’t half of his, but it still hurt to have to be so cold against her will. 

At one point in their conversation, Robin had heard stomping from behind her. She had tensed up, still listening to Gaius intently, but close to shaking from fear of what Gangrel might do. And, dare she think it- who he might hurt.

Ever since that night she had held her former husband’s tattered clothing in her hands and soaked the burnt remains of it with tears, she questioned everything except Gangrel. He was the first to pull her into his arms and tell her it would be okay. He offered comfort. Stability. Support. Which was all she had needed.

After Gangrel told her off for talking to Gaius, she had asked to be left alone for the night. The look on his face seemed as though he had watched her grow wings and fly. Fortunately for her, his sensitive side came out, and he let her be alone for the first time in several days.

As Robin slipped into bed, she looked at Gangrel’s belongings that were scattered in her tent. With sleep overtaking her, she wasn’t thinking very clearly and didn’t question the half full syringe.

***

In the middle of the night, she woke up, her throat feeling dry. So she stretched her arms, got up, put her coat on over her night clothes, and headed out to find their water supply.

Her heart leaped when two powerful hands grabbed her shoulders and forced her to the ground, causing a large  _ thump _ . “Hey, what the-” she tried to scream, but four fingers were forced into her mouth at once. No matter how hard she bit down, she couldn’t prevent her attacker. She tried to turn her head, but it was held down by a foot.

Something stabbed her arm, but immediately withdrew. It was long and skinny and sharp and-

A syringe.

Her head started spinning and aching all at once. She felt herself lose control of her limbs, as they lost all strength in a matter of seconds. Whoever was attacking her removed themselves and their fingers, but when she shouted, she found her voice unable to work.

Right before she blacked out, she felt someone pick her up.

***

Robin woke up sitting in a chair, surrounded by people. As she gained her vision back, she was able to distinguish some of the faces as her friends. Chrom? Gaius? Tharja? What were they doing here?

But slowly, realization dawned on her. This was a courtroom, and seeing that her wrists and ankles were bound by chains, she could only assume that she was being convicted. 

Of what crime? She blinked several times, trying to clear her mind. She had to be forgetting something. Her mind couldn’t remember anything between being attacked and being in court.

“Robin,” a powerful male voice said, “you are on trial today, guilty of second degree murder of your deceased husband Lon’qu. Do you plead guilty or not guilty?”

No lawyers or spokespersons stood in front of her. Her stomach dropped as she realized she was alone with everyone facing her, glaring at her and judging her. All of her friends gave her looks of anger and betrayal.

She began trembling. She didn’t even know what was going on. For heaven’s sake, she wasn’t even sure what to say. Certainly, she hadn’t killed Lon’qu on purpose, but she still blamed herself for it…

Ah, but what would she say then?

Robin felt herself fall off of her seat, collapsing onto the ground, unable to move. People started shouting at her before she blacked out.

***

The next scene Robin found herself a part of was much more serene. She was in the middle of a quiet forest, surrounded by chirping birds and dragonflies.

Part of her wanted to explore right in front of her, just to see where it went. At first, she stepped forward, but retracted her foot immediately and looked to the right. There was a nearly identical path there, too.

Before she departed there, though, she looked back to her left. Yet another path was before her, this one full of sticker bushes and overgrown grass.

Naturally, when she turned around, she found several more paths, each distinguishable from the next. She wanted to embark and go somewhere. She desperately wanted to do something. 

Yet every time she took a step in one direction, a nearly audible voice in her head asked,  _ what if you’re wrong? _ She could be stepping on the wrong path- worse yet, the  _ only _ wrong path, and that would feel horribly unlucky.

These thoughts of self doubt kept willing her to stay safe in the same position, but a different voice told her that staying here forever would cause her to atrophy and suffocate alone in this place.

Even looking at a path sent the thoughts in her head into a spiral of confusion and madness.

Eventually, she became so dizzy that she simply fell to the ground and gave up on choosing.

***

In the third scene, Robin was falling.

She was in a warehouse surrounded by crates and boxes but nothing else. She hadn’t even had a second to breathe before she watched them fall, and subsequently, felt herself go with them.

When the ground under her slipped, she tried running to a pole that kept the roof up. Barely, she made it, wrapping her body around it and squeezing it. She turned and stared into the abyss of everything that had fallen away. 

Below her was nothing but a black hole, and it made her stomach drop. Thank the gods that she was holding onto this pole, though.

As time went on, Robin grimaced, finding herself stuck. Nothing was around her besides the roof, the pole, and the gaping abyss. There was nothing to do, and her arms and legs began shaking with the effort to hold her in an awkward position of clinging to the pole.

Unable to hold it any longer, Robin finally let go, falling with her face to the shrinking pole as she fell down, deeper and deeper.

Slowly, her fall slowed to a complete halt. This was when she felt herself drift off yet again.

***

Robin jolted up from her bed. She looked around. It appeared she was in her tent, still dressed the same as how she had gone to sleep.

However, something wasn’t right. Her throat was still dry, and she could have  _ sworn  _ that she had gone out to get water, but…

Someone attacked her. It all came back. The syringe stabbing her. She twisted her head to the side. It wasn’t where Gangrel had left it. But she trusted Gangrel. He wouldn’t have done it to her. Someone else must have gone into her tent in the middle of the night, right?

Robin got up and threw her coat on before opening her curtains. It was still rather dark outside, but the sun was rising in the distance, and morning birds were waking up. Hopefully there would be someone awake to talk to now… 

And if there was someone who was awake, it was fortunately the person she trusted the most: Chrom. Robin tiptoed to Chrom’s tent, which was right next to her own. “Hello?” She called gently before peeking in.

Chrom was standing, appearing to have been pulling his shirt on before he turned around. When he saw Robin, he smiled, but tilted his head a bit. “Robin? It’s good to see you, but why are you up so early?”

“Uh, do you mind if I talk to you about something?”

“It’s not a problem. Sit.” They sat across from each other on his cot, and she bit her lip as she gathered her thoughts. “Tell me what’s on your mind.”

“Okay, well… let’s see… last night, I was thirsty, so I went to go get water. And then,” she continued, shivering a bit, “someone pinned me down and injected me with something. I’m not sure what it was or who injected me, but I began to have these really weird, really vivid nightmares.” She gulped, eyes darting around the tent. 

Chrom gaped. “Vivid nightmares? For sure?” Robin nodded, and Chrom immediately frowned, putting on his ‘thinking’ face. She patiently awaited his response- when Chrom looked like that, he definitely had something to say, and whatever he told her next would have some significance. “Someone else actually told me that something similar happened to them.”

“Really?” Robin leaned forward, eyes wide and curious. “Please tell me who it is. We might be able to find out who it is.”

Chrom frowned, thinking again. “In fact, it was Gaius. He told me-” Robin’s hand covered her mouth, but Chrom continued, “-that it was Gangrel who injected him. Now, I’m not sure that he knows it for sure or why he thinks that, but he ran it by me last night.”

An image flashed in Robin’s mind of the half-used syringe by her bed that night that seemed so unimportant back then. She gasped. “That means… oh gods, oh gods! It has to have been him!” She laced her fingers through her hair, pulling as she stared at the space between her and Chrom and got lost in her own thoughts. “No, no, no-”

“Robin!” Chrom interrupted gently. “Please, take a deep breath and calm down. We can deal with this rationally, but I need you to take a deep breath, okay?”

She did so to the best of her ability, but she still felt like she couldn’t breath. As though the thought of being with someone who would do such a thing was suffocating her and attacking every corner of her mind. Her stomach churned. Robin wanted to throw up.

“Chrom,” she whispered, “how could this have happened?”

Neither Robin nor Chrom knew what exactly ‘this’ meant. Maybe it was her being with him, or his drugging her, or her ignorance of everyone’s advice, or her guilt over it all, or her near mental breakdown now. 

Maybe it was all of those things that suddenly felt like cinderblocks on her shoulders.

Throughout her mental spiral, though, Chrom stayed quiet, only watching her, unsure of what to say next. “What do you want to do?” He finally asked.

She gulped, shaking and hugging herself. “I don’t know, but I can tell you for sure that I do  _ not _ want to marry him anymore.”

Chrom smiled, putting a hand on her shoulder. “We can start there.”

***

Word spread fast throughout the Shepherds, and someone was already planning a party for later that week to celebrate the fact that Gangrel would be gone soon. But the worst part, for Robin at least, was when Gangrel learned about her conversation with Chrom that morning. After breakfast, Gangrel immediately confronted her.

“I didn’t do anything,” he insisted before she could stop him.

“Then explain everything. Who drugged me and Gaius? Because I sure don’t think it was any of these people,” she replied, gesturing to today’s breakfast cleanup crew.

“I’m sorry, Robin, I can’t tell you who did. But I swear, I will work until we die to find out who the culprit was and to help bring him to justice.”

Her mind was still full of confused and conflicting thoughts over the entire situation. Every part of her was telling her to say something different, but in the end, she managed just a flat “no.”

“Please,” Gangrel begged, taking her hand and looking at her in the eyes. As he had many times in the past, he grabbed her hand with one, then two of his own, maintaining eye contact. For the first time, Robin saw no bitterness or spite in his eyes. All that was there was desperation, depression, and  _ fear _ .

A tiny sliver of her that had yet to go away begged her to take him back to her tent and apologize to him for all the unrest she had created in his mind. Just yesterday, that was what she would have done. 

However, as in her last nightmare, letting go seemed like the right thing to do. His remorseful feelings came to him too late. So she turned around and walked back to her tent without another word to him.

Perhaps she would go see Morgan, who she had neglected for too long. Seeing him caused her slight dread, but she knew it was her own fault. Morgan had every right to be mad at her or to hate her. She owed it to him now to spend time with him.

On her way there, Robin saw Gaius ahead of her, who was walking in the same direction. “Gaius,” she called, running up to him. He turned his head and smiled at her.

“Hey, Bubbles. How’re you this morning? Get some things off your chest?”

“Yeah, definitely.” For a moment, she had to think of what to say. Nothing could really be adequate for what she wanted to say, but she had to express at least a portion of her gratitude. “I just wanted to say thanks. You know, for trying to help me. I think that if you hadn’t snapped me out of my daze, I might not have realized exactly what’s going on.”

Oddly, Gaius turned pink and could only looked down at his feet, but soon looked back at her with his smile. “Glad I could help, Bubbles. Just don’t go rushing into marriage again, okay? No matter how sweet the guy seems on the surface, he could be hiding something.” Gaius turned around at his tent and gave her a quick wink. “See you later.”

She had to pause to think for a moment, but then chuckled. Surely  _ he _ would be the one to flirt with her and simultaneously give her a word of advice.

***

Robin opened the curtain to Morgan’s tent, half expecting a glare or outright ignorance. 

However, when he saw that she was alone, Morgan beamed, running toward her with his arms outstretched. She pulled him into a tight embrace and smiled as he muttered, “I’m so happy, mom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, this was quite the journey. I was pretty enthusiastic at first, but by the end, I just really wanted to be done with it, you know
> 
> Anyone else a writer here and feel my struggle?
> 
> Feel free to comment/kudos if you enjoyed. Thank you for reading this all the way through. Have a fantastic day/night!

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to comment if you liked it or didn't like it or want me to go die in a hole!


End file.
